Day 66: Lander, WY to Dubois, WY (76 miles, 2914 total)

Ok, before you get all excited to bust out your frenchie accent and say "Dubois", take note that Dubois is pronounced "Dew-Boys." We learned the hard way too, so put away your fromage and beret-wearing toy poodle.

Today was a bit of a beat-down after our week off, but maybe we deserve it for having such a great time over the weekend. Again, a big thanks to Alecia, Matt, the Chandlers and the Wilders for having us. And of course, a huge thanks to Mr. Chandler for rescuing us from our heap of a rental car.

Anyway, we woke up, had breakfast, took the rental car back, and got a lift back to the bike shop. We were shocked to find the Dutchesses standing with a red Burley tandem outside the store. It turns out that about 20 miles out of Lander, the frame cracked on their tandem! I could not believe it. Anyway, long story short, they got back to Lander, rented a wreck, and zipped down to a bike shop in Denver that specializes in tandems. They returned with the nice gently used Burley and intended to do a lot of part swapping with their old bike. So, we found them outside the shop waiting to do some swapping.

Unfortunately, due to the broken frame, we will probably not ride with the Dutchesses again. In the shop, we said goodbye one last time and rolled out of town by 9AM.

Since we are now on new tires, I told AK that we should have a break from flats for a while. I guess I was only thinking about the bikes when I said that, but just out of Lander I got my first BOB trailer flat of my life. That makes 10 flats total on the trip so far, four for me and six for AK. (Although, we failed to mention it, AK had one on the way into Lander, and she managed to score a puncture after installing her new tires.) A huge staple protruded from my BOB tire, and it was very obvious why it was flat, although I was still shocked and if asked, I would have never guessed we would flat a BOB tire. Of course, I still carry spare BOB tubes. We fixed it and we back on the road rather quickly.

Soon we arrived in Fort Washakie. We stocked up on food and snacks at a market and headed on out. About 30 miles later, we arrived in Crowheart and ate a lunch comprised of cheese, cold cuts, and crackers. It was actually pretty good, and pretty much the only thing the tiny town had to offer.

Up to Crowheart, the scenery remained very simular to that of the route into Lander. We spied the Crowheart Butte on our way into town and from there all the way to Dubois, the scenery became rather Grand Canyon-like, but of course on a samller scale. We biked along the Wind River which is apparently named for good reason.

We biked the last 25 miles into Dubois with a punishing headwind. Perhaps we were getting paid back for the light tailwind we had in the morning, but we got it bad. Even pedalling downhill took a lot of work.

About ten miles out of town, we took a moment to dip our heads in the river and then continued on into the wind. At that point, we were really starting to feel the time off the bikes. We decided that we needed to eat, and soon.

Before ever heading to a campground, we went straight to a local cafe for dinner. Now we are camping at the KOA where they take the liberty to spell camping with a "k".

We are both happy to be back on the bikes, but we are also glad to have the first day back over with. Tomorrow we plan to get a much earlier start to beat the wind.

Until next time,

Jeff